Amtrak workers may be able to strike as early as December 1

The New York Times article "Amtrak Workers in Cooling-Off Period" states that after rejecting mediation and entering a 30-day cooling-off period Amtrak workers may be able to strike as early as December 1. Amtrak and several unions are deadlocked over health insurance costs, work rules and back pay dating to 2000, when the last contract was approved.

Amtrak has never had a strike in its 30-year history. About half of its 15,000 unionized employees belong to labor groups that rejected the National Mediation Board's intervention in bargaining October 25. Amtrak and eight unions were released from mediation Wednesday and began the waiting period November 1.